MV (supporting direct engagement model) - Bedford Hospital NHS Trust

Holt Doctors was appointed as Master Vendor for Bedford Hospital NHS Trust (Bedford) in January 2013 to help the Trust streamline recruitment processes, reduce the medical staffing team’s workload and generate substantial cost savings. A year on and the service is continually developing in line with changes to the Trust’s staffing requirements and to create even more efficiencies. Here’s how...

The story so far

The Holt Doctors’ team, through implementation of their bespoke IT recruitment platform LMS, and working closely with Bedford’s own team, have already produced some very significant results:

• Savings of £265,000 on locum spend in the first year.• Standardised rate cards for all sub-contractor agencies – preventing rate fluctuations and keeping locum spend down. • Significant workload reduction for the medical staffing team – Holt Doctors handle compliance checks and manage sub-contractors; significantly reducing administrative work for the team.• High fill rates maintained month on month – 93% in June 2014. • Full visibility in real time of locum usage and expenditure – easy to view.• Improved compliance checks, reduced risk – LMS blocks non-compliant candidates from being put forward by Holt Doctors or its sub-contractors and is overseen by dedicated compliance team.

Original implementation of the managed service provision took only 6 weeks but Holt Doctors and Bedford continue to look at further ways to enhance the service provision; resulting in a number of other efficiencies.

Further service development - LMS & Brookson's VAT efficiency model

LMS, built in-house at Holt Doctors over the last 3 years, continues to be the IT portal of choice for many Trusts, offering a full locum management platform with support on hand from an experienced team of IT developers and help desk. As owners of the software, Holt Doctors can work with its clients to provide any service model required – making bespoke upgrades to meet a particular Trust’s needs. This was particularly beneficial in helping Bedford adopt a VAT efficiency model earlier this year. Holt Doctors initially met with the Trust and Brookson where it was decided that the introduction of yet another IT system (Brookson’s own) was not the ideal solution for the medical staffing team. It was, therefore, agreed that Holt Doctors would build into LMS the extra processes and reports required to make this a better resolution for the Trust - this included the functionality for recording and processing timesheets electronically. Doctors working at Bedford have also been given access to their own portal on LMS to record and confirm their hours worked. Full training has been provided for all relevant users (internal staff, agencies and doctors) and Holt Doctors has delivered all the system modifications for Bedford within 8 weeks from the initial discussions.

Results and feedback from the Trust

‘As master vendor for Bedford, Holt Doctors have had regular meetings with a variety of stakeholders at the Trust throughout the contract to look at how the processes in place could be improved to further enhance the service. When the decision had been made to initiate a direct engagement model through Brookson, Holt Doctors took in to account all the requirements of the medical staffing team, set a clear schedule for adapting the LMS IT system and recruitment processes, provided full training and successfully delivered the project within only 8 weeks.’

Caroline Fisher, Medical Staffing ManagerBedford Hospital NHS Trust

For more information email client@holtdoctors.co.uk to request an information pack or call 0845 508 1491 to speak to Sarah James, Business Development Manager.